(Yicai Global) Oct. 31 -- Bilibili said the Chinese video-streaming platform will release its animated television adaptation of ‘The Three-Body Problem,’ one of China’s most popular science-fiction novels, on Dec. 3. 

The animated series is based on the Hugo Award-winning trilogy by Chinese author Liu Cixin and is co-produced with YHKT Entertainment, a major Chinese animation studio, Shanghai-based Bilibili  said at a showcase event on Oct. 29. 

The project was announced in 2019, with the much-anticipated TV series originally slated for release last year. Work on the project was extensive, but the team underestimated the story’s depth and wanted to represent it better.

“We want to make the animation globally recognized,” the creators told Yicai Global. 

Published in 2008, ‘The Three-Body Problem’ became one of China’s most successful sci-fi novels. The second and third books of the series were released in 2008 and 2010, respectively. The trilogy focuses on human kind making contact with an alien civilization, the exchange between them, subsequent war, and the invasion of Earth. 

In 2015, Ken Liu’s English translation won the Hugo Award, a literary prize for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, helping the book gain global popularity. 

Tencent Video and US streaming giant Netflix are also developing their own TV adaptations. Though Tencent’s was completed in December 2020 and originally set to launch last month, it is not yet available. The same month, Netflix showed behind-the-scenes snippets of its project, with filming reportedly in the can. The series is in post-production and is expected to stream next year. 

Shanghai-based game developer Youzu Games is also making a version of ‘The Three-Body Problem,’ which is likely to be released in the next three to five years. 

Bilibili owns 30 percent of YHKT, a unit of Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings owns 29 percent, and YHKT founder Ruan Rui 15 percent, according to business information platform Tianyancha. 

In February, YHKT raised hundreds of millions of Chinese yuan, equal to tens of millions of US dollars, in financing, giving it a valuation of nearly CNY2.5 billion (USD344 million). 

Editor: Martin Kadiev